Valve for exhausting machines



J J HIGGINS VALVE FOR EXHAUSTING MACHINES Filed July 21, 1922 j July 28, 1925.

. Patented lJuly 28,. 1925.V

' Unirse-STATES JOHN' JOSEPH HIGGINS, or EAST OEANGE, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNOE." To. tirajis'rrivo-M PATENT O1-"Fics,

HOUSE LAIPCOIPANY, 'A CORPORATION OF 'PENNSYLYANIL VvALvE EOE ExHAUsTINo MACHINES. i

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN JOSEPH HIGGINS,

a citizen of the United States, and a resi dent of East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Valves for means W ereby the exhaust tube of a laml bulb may be conveniently disposed in scale communication with a vacuum line.

TAnother objectof the invention is to pro- Vvide means for conveniently and expeditiously ejecting an exhaust tube from association with an exhaust machine aftera lamp has been tipped off.

Another object of the invention provide mechanism for effectively sealing a vacuum line from-the atmosphere in such manner as to prevent the entrance of air to any appreciable portion of the line.

A still further object ofthe invention consists in rovidin coordinating machine elements w ich wil operate to secure the exhaust tube of a vessel in sealed communication with a vacuumline and to effect the ejecting of said tube without affording atmospheric communication to said line or to the vessel.

Other ob'ects will be apparent from the following escription. v Machines for producing vacuum in lamp bulbs are well known in the art. Such ma- 40 chines usually comprise -a pump having a valve consistmgof a disc movable upon a vnether plate and having suitably disposed ducts in 'ven relative positions and connected wit intermediate passages, which, in turn, aordcommunicatlon to. a pluralit of communicating passa the latter termlnating intube-supportmg members. The

Application mea my 21, 1922. serial m. :$76,492.l

disc valve is operable to openfand close the ports or ducts leading to the'supports to successively evacuate the several llamps posii tioned in t e supports. I t is often necessary to providefor the preliminary evacuation of the bulbs, after which they are evacuated a second or'even a third time to the proper degree. y

'Ihe present invention, however, is directu ed to a combined valve and vsupport in which the exhaust tubeof a lam may be inserted and provides means wher'eliy an exhaust tube may be resiliently'held in sealed communica.- 00 tion with a vaccum line for evacuation after whichthe bulb may, as usual, be'tipped-ol leaving thesurplus or remaining portion ol the tube in the support. v

This-tube, by means of the present in' 05 vention, may be automatically ejected and, at the same time, the ejecting means serves as a closure for the passage 1n which ythe tube was previously positioned.

It will be readily appreciated `that means for simultaneously closing the aperture as the tube is ejected provides'a more ellcient machine than the oneemploying the expensive and 'heretofore-considered indis- .the present device makes this economic filling of envelopes possible. The supports in which the exhaust tubes are inserted for the evacuation Of bulbs are usually positioned `as close to the valve of. the vacuum pump or machine as is possible.y However, for practical reasons, 'there is alJH ways a considerable lengthl of passageway intermediate the supports and the pump. Heretofore, when a lamp had been exhausted and lthe tipped-oftl tubel had been removed from the support, the passageway or duct from the support to the valve of the exhaust machine hadl been left open to the 4atmosphere. Since the duct constitutes a part 0f the vacuum line, it is obvious that, during such exposure, this section of the `line will accumulate an amount of moisture on the walls or 4other* portions thereof, and it is well known that the entrance of moisture into the vacuumsystem will prove detrimental to rality of valves connected to a vacuum-pro- ,ducing machine; and,

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a plurali-ty of the valves as applied to another type of exhaust machine.

v In the drawing, my valve is indicated, as a whole, by the numeral 4 and ma comprise a caslng 5 having discs 6 and litted tightly to the inner wall-thereof and so.

disposed as to providel a chamber 8. The chamber 8 has connected thereto' a tubular passage 9 which may be connected to a vacuum-producing apparatus 10, indica-ted in dotted lines, 'to .afford communication between the chamber 8 and theapparatus. Within the casin 5'and disposed between the disc 6 and a screw plug 11 is a resilient member 12 having an axially disposed pasp sagor 'aperture 13 therein. I

hen the member 12 is in position, the

aperture 13 may be positioned 1n alignment with an aperture 14 in the plug 11Aand an aperture 15 in the disc 6, thus providing communication between the chamber 8 and the 'exterior of the casing 5. The member 12 may be of any suitable material or construction to give the desired resiliency in the wall of the passage 13; soft rubber being preferable. This passage may be of less diameter than the'exterior diameter of the exhaust tube of a bulb which is to be inserted therein, and the. tube will thus be resiliently retained by the Wall of the passage to provide a hermetic seal.

The opposite end of the casing 5 is provided with a plunger 16,y reciprocable 1n a packing 17, which may consist of any suitable elastic material disposed between a threaded colla-r 18 and the disc 7. Aslan added assurance against leakage of air into .the passage 13.

Fig. 2` is a diagrammatic View of a plu' the chamber'S, liquid 19 is'provided -and-so The plunger 16 is, therefore, moy-"able within the casing -5 and may'pbe thrust through.l the aperture 15 and into qthe passage or aperture 13 for the purpose of normally closing this passage and effectively sealing the chamber 8 from the atmosphere.

In order to provide a more firm Contact between the Walls of the passage 13 and the plunger, the plunger is rovlded with an enlarged portion 21 whic l, when thrust to position, as indicated in dotted lines, will make more firm contact with the walls of The .passage being thus closed, a vacuum may be createdln the chamber 8, `and an exhaust tube 22 of a lamp bulb 23 may' then be thrust into the passage 13, thus producing a hermetic connection between the chamber 8 and the bulb 23. Thev chamber 8 being connected with the vacuum line, th'e plunger 16 may be then withdrawn from the passage 13 and the lamp may be evacuated after which the plunger-may be again inserted into the passage 13 to close vthe same, and the usual tipping-ofi' lires may be applied to the constricted portionof the exhaust tube 22 and the lamp tipped-olf, leaving the lower portion ofthe tube within the paage 13.

The plunger 16 may then be moved upwardly until it makes contact with the lower end of the tube 22, and a continued upward lim movement of the plunger will operate to.'

leject the tube, after which the plunger may be moved downwardly within the passage 13 to such position as to permit the insertion of another exhaust tube, after which it may be Withdrawn into the chamberald e another lamp may be evacuated. sirable, the plunger 16 may be provided with a. second enlargement in order to insure a suiiicient contact area between the wall of the passage 13 and the plunger during the ejection vof the exhaust tube.

When the head 21 of the plunger is in 'position to eject a tube` from the passage 13,

it will be noted that the paage is entirely out oil' from the atmos here, and, if desirable, the plunger may .so operated that,

after moving upwardly` to eject a tube, it

will be left free for downward movement when engaged by another exhaust tube during the insertion of the same into thev passage. be ada. ted to be moved downwardly a suicient istanoe within the paage for the free entrance of an exhaust tube. In this case, any air which may enter the passage canonly /do so for a distance equal to the length of the inserted portionof the ex-` haust tube, and moisture that may" have accumulated on the inner wall of the passage On the other hand, the plunger may f 13 will be dissipated and' @nailed betweenof the'tube' and the wallv vacuum. Aprelimina `means for disconnectin the exterior wall of the passage.

When my improved valve is employed in machines of the stationary-exhausttype, considerable advantage is derived, inasmuch as such machines employ an elongated manifold which presents a considerable surface upon which condensate may form. A stationary exhaust machine is indicated diagrammatically in Fig. Y3 and comprises a manifold 25 to which a plurality of my improved valves may be connected. The manifold may be in communication with an apparatus for producing three degrees of exhaust may be had through a duct 26 having a valve 27, and a second degree of vacuum maybe produced through duct 3() having a valve 28, and a final degree of vacuum, may be had through a duct 29 having a valve 31, the respective valves being operated to open or close the respective ducts to effect the successive exhausting. operations. The machines for producing these different degrees of vacuum are well known and the present illustration -is enti-rely diagrammatic to illustrate a general application of my invention.-

It will readily be seen by the above description that my invention provides for the support of a lamp, simpliiesthe mechanism` for the evacuation of the lam-ps and also provides for the ejection of a tipped-off tube from the sup ter is of conslderable' importance in the art,

inasmuch as its great simplicity reduces the initial cost and obviously reduces the cost of maintenance of exhaust machines.

This invention provides al support but, since it also includes a valve, it will be termed, in at least some of the claims, as a valve for the exhaust machines.- X

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, it is obvious that other'modiiications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1.l A valve for exhaust machines comprising means for securing an exhaust tube in a vacuum line and means for automatically ejecting said tube and simultaneously closing said line.

2. A valve for exhaust machines comprising means for securing a tube in air-tight communication with a vacuum 'line and said tubeand simultaneously closing said line.

Y 3. A valve for an exhaust machine comprising a resilient member having a passage for the reception of an Lexhaust tubevandA means for securing a tubein air-tight com-` rt. Adevice of this characphere.

munication Witha vacuum line, a reciprocable plungerifor removing a tube from saidf line and means-'associated with said plunger for hermetically sealing said line.

5. A valve lfor an exhaust machinecomprising a casing, a vacuum-producing apparatus, communication between said casing and said apparatus, a yresilient memberl in: said lcasing having an aperture for receiving and resiliently retaining an exhaust tube 'and means for opening o'r closing said passage and for ejecting said tube therefrom.

6. A valve comprising a casing, a plunger movable in said casing, a passagel having resilient walls, achamber in communication with said passage, a vacuum line, a conduit between saidchamberand said vacuum line and means associated with said plunger to l engage with'the walls of said passage and to eject'a tube when disposed therein.

7 .y A valve comprising a casing, a plunger movable in said casing, a passage having resilient walls, a chamber in communication with said' passage, a vacuum line, a conduit between saidl chamber and said line, said plunger being adapted to enter'said. passage and be' resiliently engagedk by the Walls thereof to close said passage.

8. A valve comprising .a casing, a plunger "movable within lsaid casing, a communicating passage within said casing having resilient walls for resiliently engaging a tube when forced into said passage, said lunger being movable to eject said tube and to effectively close said passage.

j 9. A valve comprising a casmg, a plunger movable in' said casing, a passage having resilient walls, a chamber in said casing and av-passage connecting said chamber with thev atmosphere, said plunger being operable to eject a tube from said passage and to simultaneously close said passage from the atmos- 10. A valve comprisin a casing having lan air-tight packing,a p unger movable in said packing, a resilient member having a relatively small passageway therethrough, a chamber in said casing disposed between said packing and said resilient member, a

vacuum line and means to aord communicatlon between sald chamber and said line; said plunger belng movable into and out from said passage to close or open the same' and to eject an exhaust tube wheny positioned therein.'

los

l11. A valve for an exhaust machine comsage, an enlarged said casing for receiving an exhaust tube of a vessel, a plunger movable within said pas rtion on said plunger for engagement wlth said exhaust vtubve to eject the same from the. passage and `for sealy subscribed my name this 20th day of July l5 13. A valve for an exhaust machine com prising a casing, a plunger movable in said ing the passage from the atmosphere.

c'asing, a vacuum line, means for securing the exhaust vtube ofv a vessel in air-tight l0 communication with said line, said plunger being operable to seal said vessel from said line and to eject said exhaust tube.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto JOHN JOSEPH HIGGINS. 

